The Hate Bus, not to be confused with the Peace Train or the Joy Jitney.

So in my email inbox yesterday, alongside a nagging reminder from my dentist to schedule a checkup and my latest marching orders from the Gynocrat Central Committee, I noticed an email from an unknown correspondent with the intriguing subject line “The Holy War against Feminism.”

Clicking on it, I found an angry little manifesto from someone calling himself Mortago Black. It started off with a bold all-caps claim:

THE MENS REIGHTS REVOLUTION IS AT HAND.

The revolution will not be spellchecked.

But apparently, if Mr. Black has any say over things, it will be “liked” on Facebook: our manifesto-writer followed his bold headline with a link to a Facebook page – which, by the time I got around to looking at his email, had been taken down, probably because it contained stuff like, well, the rest of his manifesto.

Mr. Black continued:

The dawn of men’s rights revolution is fast approaching. We are rising to destroy the evil of modern day feminism. The lies, the bigotry, and the hatred of feminism must be erased from the surface of our earth.

We are sworn to our lives to wage a holy war of men’s rights against feminism.

Huh. You know, before starting this blog, I probably would have dismissed something like this as obvious trollery. But too many Men’s Rightsers talk exactly like this for me to assume it’s not for real. I wouldn’t be surprised if it turned out to be a troll, but I also wouldn’t be surprised if it was 100% real.

You will see my profile picture is the flag of the men’s rights revolution.

Wait, they have a flag now?

The 3 colors represent the heart and soul of our holy struggle:

You haven’t even specified what the “evil of modern-day feminism” consists of, and you’ve already moved on to the flag-describing stage?

Black: The black represents the darkness that is the evil of feminism. The shadow the oppression of feminist bigotry casts over the land, and the blackening of hearts against that which is good and just.

Ok, black = evil. No points for originality here.

Blue: The blue representatives man as society expects him to be, the role we have written for us, the character society forces us to play.

So, the Blue Pill? The Blue Pill is bad, right? Why are you giving 2/3 of the real estate on your flag to things you don’t like?

Red: The red represents the blood shed by fathers, husbands and sons of the past. It reminds us of the struggle and sacrifice we must be willing to make to destroy feminism.

We shall cast this flag over the United States, and one day, over the world. We shall unshackle ourselves from the chains of feminist hate. We shall cleanse the world of this cancer, of this filth, of this plague, of this DISEASE that is feminism. We shall DESTROY those who seek to hurt us simply by virtue of birth. We shall ERADICATE the hatred and enemies of men.

Dude, hate to break it to you, but when you start talking about “cleansing the world” of the “disease” that is your enemy, you don’t sound much like Thomas Jefferson. You sound a lot more like the guy who wrote this:

[T]he discovery of the Jewish virus is one of the greatest revolutions that has taken place in the world. The battle in which we are engaged today is of the same sort as the battle waged, during the last century, by Pasteur and Koch. How many diseases have their origin in the Jewish virus! … We shall regain our health only be eliminating the Jew.

Yes, it was indeed Hitler who wrote that. Yes, I just compared you to Hitler. But you can’t call Godwin on me because you are LITERALLY USING A FASCIST TROPE.

If you find yourself, consciously or unconsciously, spouting rhetoric that sounds like you plagiarized it from Mein Kampf, I think you might just have to consider the possibility that, well, you might be the baddies.

Also, would it kill you to proofread your hate manifestos before you send them out?

EDIT: Added a bit more on the question of whether or not this is real or a troll, since I can’t tell.

Isabelle – Ravelry is a site for fabric crafts – knitting, crochet, felting, weaving and so on. It has patterns, people’s projects, forums and all sorts of stuff. I get all my patterns there (when I’m not using the “make it up as you go along and then add bits where it doesn’t fit” method).

A long, long time ago I tried knitting, but could not keep the tension even. The end products looked like a spider had fallen in a bottle of rum.

It’s creative lacework I tell you! My tension tends to be loose/looser/loose, all in the one garment. Still, it means I don’t have to knit so much: I know those suckers are going to drop a good few centimetres at least.

German Shepherd puppy? ::makes big googly eyes:: Would you like to share any pics?

That made me laugh. Jack, my hubby, had the same thing with wood. Thank goodness we had a barn where he could store it.

That made me laugh too, ‘cos Louis (my husband, also known as Mr K here) does the same thing. Fortunately storing things when one’s in Spirit isn’t such a problem!

pallygirl –

Can someone explain to me how vagazzle ever became a term because it should be mons pubazzle or something similar.

I read that as “pub azzle” which sounds like something that happens at a pub … and I think that’s all I’d want to know.

@kittehserf – I am on Ravelry, but I’m just slightly more than a lurker. I use the pattern library function and occasionally rate patterns after I’ve finished them, but I’ve never joined a forum discussion or uploaded any pics of finished pieces. I might have to get more social over there, now that I know there’s Mammotheer presence.

@pallygirl – Skull socks sound amazing! I’m working up the courage right now to embark on my first pair of socks, ever, though, so I’ll have to table anything with cool patterns until I’ve mastered setting heels and things.

@Isabelle – Thanks for the felting encouragement and the link. I’ve done some felting of knitted goods in the washing machine, but I’ve never actually made a piece of felt from scratch. I actually have some roving left over from other projects (thrummed mittens and wool dryer balls), and I’ve been wondering what to do with it. I may have to give that a go, it looks like something the little ones would enjoy, too.

@Flying Mouse: do you knit or crochet?:
Socks are easy to construct, I agree with all the patterns I have seen which say you just need to understand the different parts of a sock. Here is a blog on how to do sock knitting: http://winwickmum.blogspot.co.nz/2014/05/basic-sock-pattern-and-tutorial.html with photos! Turning the heel seems to be the part that is confusing to most people, but all you have to do is keep in mind that you’re almost making a triangle. I use very long circular needles (use one that is at least 80cm long, 100cm if you have them), so that I generally have half the stitches on one end of the circular and half on the other.

There is oodles of self-patterning sock yarn on the market now, so you don’t have to be “stuck” with plain coloured socks while you’re mastering techniques.

Flying Mouse, that about describes my Ravelry usage, too, though I upload all my finished projects. I started Crafty SPINSTERS but all the overlap people (me included) spend more time here anyway. Love the free patterns available on Ravelry, though, and I’d love to see your projects!

Socks: one of the guys I worked with in my last job proudly showed off a pair of hand-knitted socks a while back. Can’t remember if his wife or MiL made them – they’re both killer knitters – and these were gorgeous, self-patterned in multicoloured squares.

Thanks for the encouragement, pallygirl. I can knit and crochet; I like knitting more, but I’m better/faster with a crochet hook since I’ve been doing it longer. My grandmother taught me the crochet basics when I was six, but she unfortunately decided to skip teaching me the names of the all the different stitches. So I know what they are from muscle memory, but following a pattern is sometimes hard (“this goes like this” doesn’t translate into “ch4, HDC, DC” very well 🙂 ).

kittehserf, I’ll wander over to Ravelry sometime tomorrow and see about joining the group. I’d like to see what all the other crafty Mammotheers are up to, too. And I need to download the pattern for my son’s next sweater, too. No rest for the wicked!

I want to play those Alice games so BADLY! I hope Mcgee will make more sequels and other games.

Well, if you buy the second game, you can download the first for free, and you can get them for PS3, Xbox360, or computer. Despite my love of platforming, I actually sucked so bad at the first game I gave up and watched a Let’s Play instead, but I really enjoyed the second! And McGee IS making a third game! He kickstarted it! It looks like it’ll involve puppetry and short films, which is really exicting. (My kid sister Gigi is the huge Alice fan in the house.)

RE: pallygirl

I feel they should bejewel themselves as well. Balljazzle.

My husband desperately wants to do this at some point, but I think he’s terrified of the shaving that’d be required first.

@kittehserf
“German Shepherd puppy? ::makes big googly eyes:: Would you like to share any pics?”
So, here’s Coen. He has grown a lot since then, so his share of the sofa has expended and the ears are perky.

AWW! I hear they’re a smart doggie, so hopefully it’ll go easily. I know the mostly poodle puppy I “trained” did most of the work!

well…mmm…training is a breeze as long as its something he wants to do, otherwise he has “opinions”. And he is keeping himself entertained by trying everybody’s patience. The cats (Melvin and Sunny), Luath (my other dog) and I cant wait for the happy days he will be a grownup. I really wanted to start with a clean slate with the pup, so he would grow up respecting the rest of the Zoo. If it was easy to find a standard poodle, I would have pick one in an heartbeat. They are super smart with a sense of humor. I heard that indeed poodles were pretty much self-training. Shepherds need firm guidance, they can be pretty bratty.
I thought you might like this:

@pallygirl – I should have taken a picture of the first thing I tried to crochet from a Britsh pattern! Luckily it had picture tutorials, so I didn’t ruin too many stitches before I realized that something was gravely amiss. Trial and error is sometimes the best teacher 🙂

@Isabelle – Coen is gorgeous. Looking at the picture made me miss having a puppy…until you talked about training. Now I’m back to appreciating my nice, calm eight year old girl. Good luck with the teaching and the directing of excess energy!

Luath’s name is from a Robert Burns poem, to honor her origins. Same with Coen, which name stands for brave in German.

@weirwoodtreehugger

Unfortunately, some breeds attract the worst type of owners: the dudebro who see his dog as an extension of his manly parts. If you feel that insecure, you should not own a goldfish, much less a dog that needs a self-assured, people-oriented owner to be friendly and gentle with everybody. When I see a guy walking a small, fluffy dog, that’s a sign that man has an unshakable self-confidence and does not need validation 😉 .

Isabelle — training the poodle went extra easy because he, more than anything, wanted to please me (I was very probably the first thing he smelled as he was born breech for a puppy and momma started at the wrong end, so I removed the sac from his tiny face) — with a smart dog that goes flat with tail under him at the slightest sign you’re unhappy, it’s beyond easy to train a puppy! Wonder if a similar sort of “aw, damn, I made my human unhappy” might help with your pup? (Who made me go all D’AWWW)

As for the decorated poodle, I always think that shit is cruel, and then remember that unamused poodles will make it IMPOSSIBLE to do anything to them (it took two of us to trim around the puppy’s eyes, because he just would not hold still, the idea of dyeing a dog that is squirming seems impossible)

My neighbor growing up had a really mean German shepherd named Louie. Louie hated me and almost mauled me a couple times. It’s not the dogs fault, his human is a complete abusive asshole but it made me afraid of German shepherds for a long time. I eventually met a really mellow and sweet German shepherd who was a retired rescue dog and that got me over it.

“Wonder if a similar sort of “aw, damn, I made my human unhappy” might help with your pup? (Who made me go all D’AWWW)”.

Nope, unless it’s followed by a timeout in the crate. Not sure what I do to my pets, but all of them have a sense of their inalienable right to pursue happiness, not one about pleasing me. So I have to find what is it they will get out of respecting boundaries and follow commands. I had a beagle, Lenore, who would seat and do absolutely nothing after two commands, unless she got her treat. Luath, she displaced her obsession for sheep to chasing her ball. So I can give her a series of fairly complex commands, as long as she knows I will throw the ball. Coen is both food and toy motivated and he detests being crated.

Sunny, my orange cat, is the unofficial union rep keeping me on schedule with the food. I suspect all the time he spends socializing with everybody is just to list all the grievances to bring to the administration (that would be me 🙁 ). Melvin is the most peacenik cat on the planet, he felt in the catnip at birth and still ridding the buzz.

@weirwoodtreehugger

I find the human behind the leash is often the best indicator of the dog character. I am glad you got over your fear of gsd. But it was totally understandable considering your experience. I am cautious about large dogs unless I know what kind of people owns them. Coen comes from strong working lines, lots end up police and protection dogs. So I drag him everywhere to meet people. Being gentle with the kitties is a huge part of his education. So far, so good, if people are okay with 70 pounds of exuberant bouncing and kissing; he loves everybody with overwhelming enthusiasm.

re Felting: It’s complicated: Modern sheep breeds have very different hair patterns from older ones.

I suspect (though I can’t prove it) that making ropes and twines predates felting, because prior to domesticating sheep wool was shed (and in some places still is, “woolgathering” was the practice of going and collecting shed locks which had collected on bushes/trees).

Felting to make fabrics is actually sort of complex. Because agitation is what makes wool felt it’s hard to get a large quantity without shearing, unless one is somewhat sedentary (I keep the working roving/top for my drop spindle in a plastic box, because keeping it in a bag when I carry it with me (even a ziploc) meant it got sort of hard to draft, because it was felting; and that was a wool/silk blend).

It also felts better if the “grease” has been, at least, reduced (the grease, a mix of lanolin and suint, is why most sheep don’t form dreadlocks, unlike Pooli, and Kommondor dogs).

So the Mongol felt-making is pretty labor intensive. They shear the sheep. Then they take a large blankey, Lay the wool on it, in an even layer, pour boiling water over it (to reduce the grease, and increase the “stickyness” of the wool, to itself). Then they put another blanket over it, and roll that around a log.

The next step is to hook the log to a yoke, and take turns hauling it behind a horse for about a mile of riding. Without the steady pressure it’s hard to get it to a uniform thickness.

For smaller things (hats) and other things were drape is less material (e.g boots) felt makes a decent fabric, but for things where one wants the garment to be able to conform by hanging, it hard to make a felt which is reliably thin, and evenly strong. It’s doable, but as with the Mongols, it takes equipment.

So I’d guess some sort of weaving predates felting, for clothing, because weaving (in the form of bast fibers into nets and mats) predates felting; so the tools were already present.

“So I’d guess some sort of weaving predates felting, for clothing, because weaving (in the form of bast fibers into nets and mats) predates felting; so the tools were already present.”

That would make a lot of sense. Weaving was well established in the neolithic which is when the sheep was domesticated. The fact that the technique was already there would have been a big incentive to select for wool production. The ancestors of the sheep would be considered hair sheep but they would grow a wooly undercoat for the winter months. Quite a few breeds still shed naturally, especially those belonging to the short-tail north European breeds, for example, the Icelandic and the Soey, The old technique of plucking the wool in the Spring is called rooing, but trust me, shearing is way easier and faster. I would say with some patience in sourcing the right type of fleeces, you could experience spinning with a wool very close to that available to the neolithic folks.

I met a german shepherd puppy that was in training as a service dog for a young woman with ptsd yesterday. Puppy was fluffy and adorable, and owner seemed to be delighted to have him around.

I used to be scared of them due to an aggressive dog with terrible owners that I knew as a kid too, but at a certain point I just stopped being scared of them, not sure how that happened. I think it’s mostly being secure in my own ability to read body language, so if I see a dog that’s a potentially aggressive breed but the dog looks calm and happy and the owner doesn’t seem to be a shithead then I don’t worry.

I have been attracted by the idea of learning to knit, but have never gotten the theory down. Having a copy of Stitch ‘n’ Bitch is handy, though – whenever I’m faced with some overwhelming task, I take it out and look through the basic instructions. Compared with trying to learn the knit stitch, anything else looks easy by comparison.

Did Mortago Black(TM) crib from the 140-page Manifesto of that Santa Barbara Spree Shooter (i.e. the Hollywood Highborn kid who spree-killed X people for revenge on women not throwing themselves into his pants on his say-so)? Sure sounds like it.

We Hunted the Mammoth tracks and mocks the white male rage underlying the rise of Trump and Trumpism. This blog is NOT a safe space; given the subject matter -- misogyny and hate -- there's really no way it could be.